


Someone to talk to

by FireOpal (Sandel)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, Dialogue-Only, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-10 10:03:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6978868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandel/pseuds/FireOpal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>Three dialogues from a quiescent courtship.</p>
  <p>---</p>
  <p>Written for frankie05 and AngelEyez3954's <span class="u">Wish It Was Canon Rare Pair Challenge</span>, Unwritten Curse's <span class="u">The Dialogue Challenge</span> <i>and</i> krazyboutharryginny's <span class="u">Diversify Canon Challenge</span> at the Harry Potter Fanfiction Forums.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. May 3, 2005 - At The Leaky Cauldron

**Author's Note:**

>   
>   
>  Banner by wildest dreams. at The Dark Arts forum.

“Sweet Merlin, I need a drink.”

“You know what, I’m not some sort of servant. And yet people are always coming in here like – _oh_. Hello, Ginny. I…”

“Hi, Hannah.”

“I – I heard about Ron… I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“…thanks. I appreciate it. I still can’t quite believe he’s gone, it’s…”

“I know, I know, dear. When my Mum died I didn’t really believe it for over a year… So, how about that drink, eh? It’s on the house.”

“No, Hannah, let me pay. I can’t just…”

“Yes, you _can_. What do you want?”

“…a Fire Whiskey would be nice.”

“Right up.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Look, Ginny, I need to take care of my other customers, but if you want to talk or need anything else I could come back to you afterwards. Or if you just want to drink your whiskey alone I’ll leave you to it.”

“No, I… talking would probably be good. Thanks.”

“All right. Why don’t you take a seat at that table in the corner? I’ll be there before you know it.”

* * *

“So, that should be it for a while. How are you holding up?”

“Well, I haven’t started crying yet, so that’s something.”

“Aw, sweetheart… So, how do you want to do this? Do you want to just talk, or should I ask questions, or…?”

“I don’t know… it’s hard to talk about it, but I don’t think… I mean, it’s only been nine days, it’s still… Oh, darn it, now I’m crying anyway.”

“I hear it’s good to clear out your tear ducts as often as possible. Here, love, why don’t you take my handkerchief?”

“Thanks.”

“Do you want to talk about how it happened? I heard it was on Auror duty, but…”

“Yes, well. R-ron and Harry and Neville and Auror Robards were tracking down the Death Eaters Mulciber and Avery somewhere in fucking Cornwall, of all places, and it turned out that their hiding place was booby trapped by someone way more skilled than them – possibly by Voldemort himself. And Ron was struck by – something. No one will tell me, so it must be really horrible but I don’t – I don’t know, they won’t let me _know_ , and… that’s all I know, and all of that comes from Auror Robards. Harry refuses to talk about it at all, Neville is in St Mungo’s, and Ron is, well, dead.”

“Huh-what?”

“Sorry. My gallows humour comes out when bad shit happens. Hermione hates it, so I have to think about everything I say around her, which doesn’t make me any less stressed…”

“Yeah, uh, that’s… Er, how is Hermione? I saw that horrible article in the _Prophet_ , I can’t believe they let Skeeter keep working there, she’s _vile_.”

“Yeah, well, at least Skeeter didn’t know… oh, yeah… Er, Hannah, can you keep a secret?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Well, there’s one thing that thankfully wasn’t in that article… Hermione’s pregnant.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yeah.”

“Is she… I mean… _Wow_ , I can’t even imagine…”

“Yeah. We’ve known for a while, actually. Harry and I were trying to get pregnant again, so our kids would go to Hogwarts together… I doubt that’s happening now, though.”

“How so?”

“Well, for one thing we’re hardly talking to each other, much less fucking! Harry’s just shutting himself up, hiding away from everybody except James, burying himself in work… He’s visited Neville at St Mungo’s twice, but other than that he’s only left the house to go on missions – he’s still trying to find Mulciber and Avery, I think. I don’t know what to do, Hannah, I can’t… Hermione’s a wreck, Harry’s being an idiot, Mum’s heartbroken, and I can’t keep holding everything together for everyone! I don’t even have anyone to talk to!”

“I – Ginny, you can talk to me. I don’t just mean right now, you can come here to talk whenever you need.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Ginny, you’ve done so much for me, for so many people… this is the least I can do for you.”

“Oh, _Hannah_! Thank you, thank you. I really needed this. But now I have to get home to James, and, well… you should probably stop neglecting your other guests anyway.”

“Oh. Heh, yes. You’re probably right. But you should come by some other time to give me an excuse to ignore them again. Or you can always owl me.”

“I will. And thanks again, for the drink, and the talk, and… actually can I – can I hug you?”

“Oh, yes. Come here, sweetheart.”

“Ah, I needed that. Goodbye, Hannah.”

“Goodbye, Ginny.”


	2. July 17, 2005 - At The Leaky Cauldron

“Sorry, we’re closed!”

“Hannah, it’s me!”

“Ginny, oh! Just… I’ll be there in a sec!”

“All right, but please hurry! I really don’t want anyone to see me out here.”

* * *

“Ah, there… Hello, Ginny! Come in.”

“Thanks.”

“You look… even more tired than usual.”

“Yeah.”

“So… how’s Harry?”

“I guess you’ve heard? I mean, of course you have…”

“Yeah, ‘the Chosen One tracking down the Death Eaters responsible for his best friend’s death’ isn’t really the sort of news you miss… So, yeah, how is he?”

“Sleeping.”

“What?”

“Sleeping. Ever since he came home. It’s been almost two days, and he just sleeps and sleeps. Or, well, he woke up for like a second to drink some soup, but then he blacked out again. My mum and dad are looking over him and James now, I really needed to get away.”

“Yeah, I… have a seat, I’ll get us something to drink. With the Cauldron being closed and all it means I can join you for once.”

“Ah, right… That’s good. But it’s not really why I’m so late.”

“No?”

“No… I thought I’d be here much earlier. Talking to you always helps me feel better…”

“Aw, thanks.”

“…and I really needed to clear my head a bit. But then I decided to check in on Hermione sort of on the way, you know? Big mistake. Oh, thanks.”

“No problem – I thought we deserved some Elf-made wine. I’ll take it up with Tom tomorrow." 

“Heh…”

“So, what’s this about a big mistake?”

“Well, she was a mess. More than usual, I mean. She hasn’t been out of the house at all for over a month – her pregnancy is starting to really show, and she still doesn’t want anyone to know about it. So that’s a good excuse for moping around at home all the time, where everything reminds her about Ron so she can get even more depressed. Great! But I knew all that already. What I _didn’t_ know was what my bigheaded idiot of a husband had done!”

“Deep breaths, Ginny, remember?”

“Yeah… Okay. I’m calm. God, I wish I still had access to a pair of Bludgers to bat around when I needed to get some shit out of my system.”

“If you want I can get you a scrubbing brush so you can have a go at one of those weird spots that never quite go away that people leave behind all the time. That’s what I do when I need to release some tension.”

“Heh. Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”

“Oh, well, it was worth a try… Why don’t you get back to your story instead, now that you’ve calmed down a little? What was it that your, er… ‘bigheaded idiot of a husband’ – your words, not mine! – had done?”

“Well, as it turns out Harry didn’t go straight home after he rounded up Avery and Mulciber. Instead he went to see Hermione. Still all bloody and shit. Because he wanted to give her ‘closure’.”

“Oh.”

“Because apparently he can’t get it through his thick skull that not everyone’s reacting to this whole mess the way he did. That maybe some of us maybe wants to talk about shit. So we can at least _start_ to fucking work at maybe one day beginning to move on!”

“I don’t think you’re talking about just Hermione any more, sweetheart.”

“No shit. It’s not like she’s doing much on the ‘moving on’ front either. But anyway. She and Harry got in a _huge_ fight, like yelling at each other and throwing things and blasting spells and stuff. Which is weird, because they’ve never really fought before. They usually sort of balance each other out. I mean, Harry can have quite the temper… er… anyway, and ‘Mione and… and Ron… used to fight all the time, but for some reason Harry and her never really did. Until now. Like, Hermione’s whole house was a mess, she hadn’t really cleaned up or anything. Or talked to anyone. She was basically still steaming. Threatened to stun me when I showed up, actually.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, damn. So I’ve been on damage control duty for most of the night, when I just really _already_ needed some time off from my crazy life. But now I’m here.”

“Yes, now you’re here…”

“And, well… I feel like I should want to talk about everything that I was planning to talk about. But now, after the whole Hermione deal… I’m actually not sure if I want to talk any more tonight. About, you know, Ron and everything, I mean.”

“Okay….?”

“So maybe we could just talk about other stuff, instead? I mean, if that’s all right with you…”

“Uh… sure.”

“Yeah, okay… Here, why don’t I pour you some more wine? So, um. How was your day?”

“Thank you. Well, it was all right. Kind of busy. And everyone is talking about… you-know-what, so I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”

“Aw. That’s sweet of you.”

“And Harry, of course. And Hermione… do you think I should, like, visit her or something? It must get lonely in that big ole’ house all by herself.”

“Oh, Hannah, you really are the sweetest. I can… check in with her, try to see if she’s ready. It’s hard to tell, though, you know, if she really needs to be alone or if she actually would benefit from socialising a little. I know for me I need to do stuff and try to, you know, keep living, but everybody deals differently and…”

“Oh, now we’re talking about your stuff again.”

“Oops. Heh. So… anything more to say about you day?”

“Not really. Here, have some more wine… I mean, it’s been the same as most days. Up early and then working all day. I’ve been meaning to take it up with Tom if we should take on another assistant. I can’t believe he ran this place all by himself for all those years.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m boring you, aren’t I? Aw, shoot.”

“No, no, I…”

“You know what, let me fetch us something stronger to drink, this bottle’s almost empty. And then we can talk about something more interesting than my boring job.”

“All right, then. What have you got to offer?”

“Mmm, let me see here… We have Butterbeer, Fire Whiskey, mead, more wine, ale, gin… hehe, gin. Does anyone ever call you that? ‘Gin’?”

“Not really.”

“Pardon?”

“Not really!”

“Oh, all right then. Shame. I think it would be cute.”

“Well, I guess you can call me ‘Gin’ if you like… Oh, wow, that’s a lot of bottles.”

“Yeah, I though I might as well bring it all over. We probably shouldn’t drink it all, though… Oh, well. I think I’ll start with the gin, Gin. What do you want?”

“Heh. Pour me a Fire Whiskey, bar wench.”

“Oh my, you’re playing with fire there, Gryffindor. I have Tom’s express permission to jinx any customer who addresses me like that.”

“Ah, but I trust you’re too kind to actually do so, _Hufflepuff_. Now how about that ‘not talking about your boring job’ thing?”

“Ah, yes… What do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know… why don’t you tell me something about yourself? Something you don’t usually tell people. It’s only fair, god knows I’ve told you some pretty private stuff…”

“Oh, um… Something I don’t usually tell people, you say…”

“Hannah, are you _blushing_?”

“…maybe. It’s just, I thought about something that most people don’t know about me… No one, really. But you’re the _last_ person I’d tell.”

“Ouch.”

“Oh, no – that came out wrong!”

“Relax, I’m just messing with you. It’s fine, of course it’s fine. I don’t know why I thought it’d be a good idea to ask you to tell me a secret… Must be the alcohol. It’s not like we’re even that close, really, I’m just some weirdo who’s using you as my Muggle therapist or something and now I’m trying to force you to…”

“No, Ginny, it’s… The thing I didn’t want to tell you, it’s that I, well… oh, this is embarrassing. I used to have a crush on you. Back at Hogwarts.”

“What!?”

“Yeah… when you were leading Dumbledore’s Army. I mean, basically everyone had a crush on you or Neville, right?”

“Heh, not what I noticed…”

“Well, my friends thought it was Neville I was crushing on – and, er maybe I sorta was… You were all just so cool and strong and brave and I…”

“Hehehe…”

“Are you laughing at me?”

“Maybe a little, it’s just – ahahaha… heh… Uhu…hu… hu…”

“No, no, Ginny, don’t cry, Gin, don’t… come here. There, there…”

“Oh, Hannah, you’re so kind to me. Nice, and kind, and, and pretty, and…”

“Gin, what’re you doing? Are you – No, Gin… Ginny, stop. We can’t.”

“Oh, lord! Hannah, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what… I’m so confused. I should go.”

“Yeah, maybe that’d be for the best.”

“I’m so sorry, Hannah, really. It just… Thanks for the talk, and the wine, and, well… Again, I’m sorry. Bye, Hannah.”

“Goodbye, Ginny.”


	3. November 28, 2005 - At Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

“Oh, Hannah, uhm… hi!”

“Ginny! Wow, uh…”

“I didn’t fancy running into you here, eh…”

“Oh, yeah… I’m Christmas shopping. I, uh – I got your letter, by the way.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“I’m sorry I never replied, I just… Well, first I was still too angry to reply, to be honest with you, and then it seemed to much time had passed, so…”

“Don’t worry about it, I never really expected an answer, you know, I just wanted to apologise.”

“Yeah. Well, apology accepted, then. So, how’s it going with, well… everything?”

“Oh, it’s all right. I mean, it’s still hell, basically, but one gets used to it. You know how it is.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I started talking to an actual therapist, by the way. He’s married to a witch, so I don’t have to lie to him, which is good… But, er, how are you?”

“I’m well. Or, well… I just sent in an application to St Mungo’s to start training to become a Healer, so I’m worrying about whether I’ll get in or not, but other than that, I’m fine.”

“Wow, Hannah, cool! I didn’t know you wanted to become a Healer! Which just goes to show how little I asked about you back in the day…”

“Don’t worry about it Ginny, really. I was just happy to be there for you.”

“And then I went and ruined everything like a tool.”

“Well, as a wise woman said a few seconds ago: Don’t worry about it.”

“Heh…”

“Anyway, how’s Hermione? I never got around to visiting her, but I saw that the Prophet sniffed out her pregnancy at last…”

“Yeah. She’s due any day now, actually. Having to deal with baby stuff has kinda forced her to get herself together a little, but she’s still not working or anything.”

“Oh. Well, that’s something, at least, I guess. And… and Harry, how’s he doing?”

“I – honestly I don’t know, really. I tried to get him to talk to a therapist too, but this far I haven’t had any luck. He’s still burying himself in work, and when he’s home he only seems to have time for James. Actually, Hannah, to be frank I don’t know for how long I can take this. We haven’t had a real talk since… well, since Ron died, actually, and I…”

“Oh, wow, I… I don’t know what to say.”

“And to be even more frank, I’ve – I’ve been thinking about you a lot. About that kiss, and about that letter. I don’t think I was completely honest about the kiss being just a heat of the moment thing, that I was just confused and flattered and whatever it was I wrote.”

“Ginny…”

“No, please let me talk, Hannah. And then we can avoid each other for ever afterwards if you want. I just need to get this off my chest.”

“…all right, then.”

“Okay. Yeah, okay. So. To be honest I’m not exactly a stranger to, you know… feeling those kinds of feelings towards other women. I never thought anything could ever come of it, I thought it’d just remain a sort of hidden away fantasy forever, and then there you were, saying you’d had a crush on me once, and…”

“Really, Ginny, we don’t have to go over this again. I don’t see how you fantasising about women every now and then makes any difference – it’s not like you were really interested in _me_ anyway.”

“No, I wasn’t! But… but what I’m saying is that… maybe now I am?”

“What.”

“I mean, as I said, I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I thought about sending another letter, and then I decided I wouldn’t, but now I ran into you and I’m letting my mouth run off with me because you’re so easy to talk to even when you’re just staring at me like you’ve seen a ghost, and I…”

“Calm down, Ginny.”

“Yeah, yeah. Deep breaths, was it?”

“Hah, yes…”

“Anyway, what I’m saying is, I guess, that… That I can’t promise anything, because I still haven’t given up on making it work with Harry, but I have this sinking feeling in my stomach that I _will_ , and then I have this, I don’t know, hopeful, maybe? Hopeful feeling that maybe you… maybe we… Maybe there could be something else, something after Harry. With you. And me. Like, a date at least. Oh, goodness, I’m making a fool of myself.”

“Haha, you sort of are, aren’t you? Well, Ginny, I’ll… I’ll have to think about it. I’m in a bit of a shock now, to be quite honest. I need to think, and probably talk to someone, and… And try not to get my hopes up, I guess.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry I’m being such a mess of a human being, you really don’t deserve this, Hannah.”

“Isn’t being a mess and being a human somewhat the same thing, though?”

“Uh… don’t go all philosophical on me, Hannah. And anyway, it’s probably time for me to go home and be mortified over myself now. So, er… See you later?”

“Perhaps. Goodbye, Gin.”


End file.
